Big Guy on a Bicycle

Merry Christmas

Mon, 25 Dec 2006 13:55:29 GMT

I sincerely wish each of you a Merry Christmas or a Happy Hannukah or a Joyous Kwaanza or whatever holiday it is that you observe this time of year. Unless you don't, in which case, have an especially nice day today.

It occurs to me from looking at my track-backs and statistics that I am still getting quite a few hits on this site from time to time. Just for your edification, I have moved my blogging enterprise for the most part to BGoaB.Blogspot.com, so you might just want to click through this space and head over there. Go ahead and try it. It isn't the least bit painful.

I Lied...

Fri, 01 Sep 2006 17:16:16 GMT

...but I didn't mean to. I'd said I wouldn't be moving trivia to the new blog yet, but I did. The link to the blog is here.

Trivia Answers From Way Back

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 20:17:57 GMT

OK, I'm guilty of getting behind. Way behind. I'll start making up for that today. Here are the trivia answers from the previous three weeks. Points standings will update soon.

August 17 Trivia Answers

1. Which US President signed into law a bill legalizing the home-brewing of beer and wine? Jimmy Carter signed off on that one, possibly hoping that Billy Beer could move back into his brother’s basement and out of grocery stores…

2. The presidential retreat in Fredrick County, Maryland, is called Camp David. Who named it that and who is it named after? Dwight D. Eisenhower named it after his grandson in 1953.

3. What did Francis Crick and James Watson win a Nobel Prize for in 1962? Watson and Crick were actually two of three men awarded the Nobel for their work on the structure of DNA. Maurice Wilkins also shared in the award, but is less famous for it.

4. Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe put out a studio album back in 1989. All were previous members of what famous band? All were previous members of Yes. Yes later reformed again after the ABWH album to limited success.

5. Who was the only American cyclist to win the famous Giro d’Italia (AKA the Tour of Italy)? Andy Hampsten, AKA “The Hampster” won an exciting Giro d’Italia back in 1988 while riding for the 7-Eleven team.

August 10 Trivia Answers

1. Who wrote the Pelican Brief? John Grisham wrote this and many other fine novels, some of which may be the subjects of future trivia questions.

2. How many provinces and territories are there in Canada? Ten and three. That is, ten provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador [both together make one], Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Saskatchewan) and three territories (Northwest, Nunavut, and Yukon).

3. What ship hosted the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on Sept 2, 1945? The USS Missouri (BB-63) had that honor. “Big Mo” also happens to be the last American battleship ever built (HMS Vanguard was the last to be built in the world).

4. According to Isaac Asimov, how many laws of robotics are there? There are three laws of robotics.

5. What happened in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency on July 17, 1981? The Hyatt was hosting a social gathering and dance when disaster struck. Two of the catwalks in the atrium of the hotel (where the even was being held) collapsed due to…well, that’s a little complicated, but the engineers were blamed and rightly so. Many lives were lost and many survivors were seriously injured. This case study was one we dealt with in my own college structural design classes.

Extra Credit: What were Asimov's laws of robotics?

#1 – Don’t talk about Fight Club. No, no, no…wrong rules. Let’s try again.

A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

August 3 Trivia Answers

1. What was the name of the device that the Germans used to encrypt their messages during World War II? It was generally called the Enigma machine, but the German model used during WWII was called the Wehrmacht Enigma.

2. Who played Dr. Zhivago in the movie by the same name? Omar Shariff starred as the good doctor.

3. What character was in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings book (but not the movie) who demonstrated that the Ring of Power had no power over him? Many LOTR buffs were upset that Tom Bombadil did not make it into the movie, but Peter Jackson had to decide early on that the movies were going to be long enough as it was.

4. What's the name of the museum in New York City that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright? The Guggenheim, specifically the ‘Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum’ is on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, directly across 5^th Avenue from Central Park (and somewhat near the water, if I remember correctly).

5. Who sang "The Bear Necessities" in Disney's The Jungle Book? Baloo (derived from the Hindi word for “bear”) sang this with Mowgli. Baloo was played by Phil Harris.

Migration

Fri, 25 Aug 2006 01:28:02 GMT

As part of the 'Great Blog Migration of '06', the weekly trivia quiz is moving over to my newer digs at this link. Come visit and feel free to kick off your shoes and stay a while.

Trivia

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:36:35 GMT

We went out to eat tonight with our friends Jeff and Gabe as part of "The 52". I'll post a review of the restaurant later on the other blog. Meanwhile, here's the weekly trivia questions. As always, read the rules (linked below left) and send all answers to bgoab (at) mindspring (dot) com.

Ready?

1. Which US President signed into law a bill legalizing the home-brewing of beer and wine?

2. The presidential retreat in Fredrick County, Maryland, is called Camp David. Who named it that and who is it named after?

3. What did Francis Crick and James Watson win a Nobel Prize for in 1962?

4. Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe put out a studio album back in 1989. All were previous members of what famous band?

5. Who was the only American cyclist to win the famous Giro d’Italia (AKA the Tour of Italy)?

Vive' le Difference

Wed, 16 Aug 2006 23:23:48 GMT

Unlike CafLib, I have decided not to post to two sites at a time. Maintaining one blog is enough for now. Please continue to click through until I finally decide which site will be my permanent home.

Yeah, I'm overdue for trivia answers. Sorry. I will try to do better, but I may just have to update two weeks worth on this coming Friday.

Click

Tue, 15 Aug 2006 00:53:48 GMT

Yes, keep jumping. Trivia answers soon.

Running Late

Thu, 10 Aug 2006 21:07:55 GMT

Gotta run, so this is all I have time for tonight. As always, please read the rules (link at left somewhere down the page) and send answers to bgoab (at) mindspring (dot) com.

1. Who wrote the Pelican Brief?

2. How many provinces and territories are there in Canada?

3. What ship hosted the signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on Sept 2, 1945?

4. According to Isaac Asimov, how many laws of robotics are there?

5. What happened in the Kansas City Hyatt Regency on July 17, 1981?

Extra Credit: What were Asimov's laws of robotics?

Over There

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 23:45:48 GMT

Over there, there's a blog, there's a post, over there...

Sausage

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 23:02:51 GMT

What kind of sausage? Why, link, of course...

Jump! Jump!

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:09:28 GMT

Big Guy will make you...Jump! Jump!

Jump Station

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 23:50:20 GMT

Why am I calling this a Jump Station? Well, that's what I'm using it for, at least until something happens here in 'Spaces' to make me think its not worth it to keep up a site over on Blogger. Still, trivia will stay here for at least a little while no matter what.

Trivia Answers from 7/27

1. In "The Hunt for Red October", what was the class of Soviet submarine skippered by the guy who was trying to sink Captain Raimius? It was an Alfa (or Alpha) Class attack submarine. Captain Tupolev had some serious issues going on with Ramius.

2. Sony introduced a home video system in 1975. It was a very good system, but was beaten in the market by a competitor's home video system due to a marketing blunder. What was the name of the system that Sony introduced (and which still has a small but loyal following today)? The BetaMax was the competitor to the VHS system that eventually caught on. Most agree that the BetaMax was a better system, but the VHS marketing machine was a steamroller.

3. What was Bruce Banner bombarded with that ultimately caused him to transform into a green behemoth every time he got angry? Bruce got hit with a hefty dose of Gamma Radiation.

4. Norm Abram's show "New Yankee Workshop" is sponsored by which two major tool manufacturing companies (actually, I'll take either one)? One of them is Porter-Cable, but the one I was really looking for was Delta. I have some tools from both companies, but I have stuff from other manufacturers as well.

5. What is the anglicized spelling of the name that citizens of Greece use for their country (Hint: It isn't 'Greece')? If you couldn't guess the theme of the quiz by this point, well, you're beyond my ability to help. But the anglicized spelling for their country is Hellas (Ελλάς).

It's Thursday, So...

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 00:50:49 GMT

Mrs. Guy left today. I barely got home in time to see her off. She's headed back to Orlando for another week. The last time was stressful enough for her - I hate to think how this week will be. The one good thing I can think of is that her friend "Juniper" will be there this week. I hope those two will be there to support each other, especially as I can't be there for Mrs. Guy (except on the other end of a phone).

I have another Physical Therapy session in the morning (the last, maybe???), and then I'm going to try to go ride with Wally if it isn't deathly hot.

Speaking of hot...

Trivia Time is upon us

There are Rules. Please read them if you need to, and remember to email your answers to bgoab (at) mindspring (dot) com for credit. Ready? Ready or not...

1. What was the name of the device that the Germans used to encrypt their messages during World War II?

2. Who played Dr. Zhivago in the movie by the same name?

3. What character was in the Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings book (but not the movie) who demonstrated that the Ring of Power had no power over him?

4. What's the name of the museum in Ney York City that was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright?

5. Who sang "The Bear Necessities" in Disney's The Jungle Book?

What the...?

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 01:56:35 GMT

OK, who else here is fed up with the capricious changes foisted upon us by MSN Spaces, or Windows Live Spaces, or whatever they have decided to call themselves until the next time they go changing everything around?

When I first signed on last night to put up my post, nothing worked. A half-hour later, very little worked, and I was only able to post after refreshing the 'Post Entry' screen a half-dozen times.

Even now, most of the features I have tried to mess with don't work.

It's enough to make me want to start up a new page on Blogger or something...

Missed the Train

Wed, 02 Aug 2006 02:56:20 GMT

But first I went to Physical Therapy (oh, joy). It wasn't fun. 'Nuff said.

Then I came home. I wasn't sure if I'd be riding or not becuase I was having trouble gauging Mrs. Guy's mood, but she all but ordered me to go for a ride. She was working on employee reviews anyway, so it seemed like a good opportunity. Instead of driving down to the Boulevard, I decided to just do a twenty or so mile ride from the house.

I had no route in mind when I left the house, choosing instead to let circumstance and/or last minute impulse be my guide. I ended up heading east as if I was going to do my usual time-trial loop, but then I ended up cutting left off of Ball Camp Rd onto Byington-Solway during a clear point in traffic. I had just crossed the railroad tracks at that point, and had just gotten across when the train signals started and the gates came down. Missing that would have put me doubling back and taking roads I really don't like as much.

So I headed north, east, north, east for a while, and ended up reaching the tracks crossing Coward Mill Rd just after the same train completed crossing that road. I definately would have had to double back for that one, or I would have had to wait it out, but there's limited visibility through the vegetation there and you never know where the end of the train is until it's moving past you there. But happily, in this case I didn't even have to slow down - except the slowing I naturally would do to cross the tracks. That's bad placement, too, since the tracks cross halfway up a climb and you lose a good bit of momentum crossing over. Still, better that starting from a standing stop.

As I passed by a pasture, I saw a rather sizable tree that was taken down by storms a few weeks ago. I noticed that there was a bat-house attached to that tree, which had been spared destruction since that side was up when the tree went over. The bats were happy about that too, I'd guess, and have even continued to live in the bat-house even though it is at only about five to ten degrees off of horizontal now. I wonder if maybe the bat-house is the reason that the farmer left that particular tree out there? Could be. We have enough mosquitoes around our house that I'm sure Mrs. Guy would be eternally grateful if I were to install a bat-house in one of our trees. And the bats would get quite fat.

I ended up on Rather Rd for only the second time ever, which is something I should change. It's a lovely little road, though there was something new this time. I got chased down by a dog that just wouldn't give up. It had short little legs, so it looked funny chasing after me (it's little legs a blur...), but it was still making good enough time to stay with me for far longer than I thought probable. I normally could have outsprinted it easily enough, but I was still in an uphill gear, and I had my waterbottle in my right hand (the better to shower the offending canine with Gatorade, my dear) and thus couldn't shift. After the third direct hit from my waterbottle, the little mutt decided I'd learned my lesson or something and gave up the chase. I slid the bottle back in the cage, shifted up two gears, and stood up to finish off the little uphill section that I was on.

Now, you may remember that I am coming back from injury. I am supposed to go easy on my right shoulder for a while yet, so I've been favoring it on (and off) the bike. However, when you do that for long enough, you tend to place additional stresses on the parts of the body that are taking up the slack, so to speak. And that is likely why I pulled a muscle just under my left shoulderblade while cresting that hill. I was only ten miles into a twenty mile ride, of course. I decided to shorten my ride a little.

I turned back down Byington-Solway Rd (a part I hadn't been on earlier) and headed back toward home. I was on flatter roads, so I was still able to maintain a decent speed, but I wasn't having too much success at trying to work the knot out of my back. I resigned myself to pain and just kept going. As I approached Hardin Valley Rd I caught up with another cyclist who'd just turned off of another road and was going the same way as me. He rides with a different local club, but the clubs are friendly, so we just decided to work together for a while. Remember how I was going to cut my ride short?

Derek (that's the other guy's name) and I ended up adding a few more roads to our route, and by the time he headed for his house and I headed for mine I had seen the twenty mile mark come and go. Something about having someone to ride with.

And then I got to the tracks again after we split. A train (likely not the same one as before) was sitting there stopped. Stopped just ten yards shy of the road. Did they plan it that way? I can only guess.

Bike club meeting tomorrow night, so I might or might not have time to post much, especially since Mrs. Guy is in town and will want to spend time with me afterward (since she leaves for a week on Thursday afternoon). I will try to post, but will absolutely have something for Thursday.

Fifty-Two Redux

Tue, 01 Aug 2006 01:47:34 GMT

Wally asked me to go ride tonight, but I couldn't go. I rode yesterday, but that wasn't so much the reason. Mrs. Guy is in town this week, and had planned on doing errands - with me - tonight. I would have been very politically incorrect for me to go off bike riding in view of that, especially considering how much she's been away lately (and will be again and way too soon). However, I have made it known that I will be riding tomorrow, so I should be in the clear for that. I'm trying my best to keep to an every-other-day riding schedule right now anyway.

So Mrs. Guy and I went to the bank. And to the gas station. And to the grocery store. And to the post office. Then, when we got home, she made vegetable lasagna. I'm not usually a lasagna fan, but she has converted me for the dish. I've been trying to get upstairs so I could paint some more in the bathroom and write this post, but she wanted to play cards for a while, so I'm just now making it up here.

Anyway, I had about twenty different post ideas go through my head, and almost all of them went right back out again before I could get up here. Fortunately, one stayed with me, so I now get to explain the title of tonight's post.

Years ago, and I mean several years ago (at least a decade), Mrs. Guy and I decided to try a different restaurant every week for a year. The only rules were that we couldn't go back to the same restaurant, and that we couldn't even go back to the same restaurant chain (that is, if we went to a Ruby Tuesdays on the west side of town, we couldn't go to any other Ruby Tuesdays).

As we were driving home from the post office, Mrs. Guy turned to me and said "Remember doing The Fifty-Two?" (which is how we referred to it). "Yeah," I said, "I remember that." "We should try that again," she said, more as a statement of decision than as a suggestion. However, I think it's a good idea anyway. She did suggest a new rule: No Chains Period. That means that we won't be going to ANY restaurants that are part of a national chain. There are certain local "chains" that we will be allowing (such as Aubrey's, since I think they have three places now, but they started local and still are - all three places are within a thirty mile radius or less).

So now, in addition to my other regular stuff I tend to post (more or less), you can expect that once a week I will likely be giving a report on whatever local restaurant we decided to visit during a given week. I know it would seem to make more sense as a 'restaurant review' series if you are a local, but for those of you who aren't, you just never know when you might decide to head through the Knoxville area, especially since we have two Interstate Highways that pass through town (I-40 and I-75, and I-81 begins only 25 to 30 miles east of town), and we also have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park on our back doorstep, so to speak.

So anyway, we'll be starting that back up soon enough. And what of our previous list of Fifty-Two? Well, sadly many of them no longer exist, such as the Kiva Grill. A few others have come and gone since we did our original tour de local eateries, such as Mrs. Guy's beloved Bogartz. Some which received low marks on our first pass still exist for whatever reason (perhaps Black Magic is involved). How will they fare this time around? Time will tell, time will tell...

(Not So) Lazy Sunday

Mon, 31 Jul 2006 00:00:09 GMT

It could easily have turned out to be a Lazy Sunday. I didn’t have very much momentum going today. It really all started yesterday. Well, maybe even Friday night.

On Friday afternoon I was at Tapoco Lodge over in North Carolina just over the state line on Hwy 129. That section of road is known as Deals Gap, but it is also famous as “The Dragon” among motorcyclists and sports car drivers. Deals Gap boasts 318 curves over a distance of 11 miles. That’s a lot of curves. I don’t know if that makes it the twistiest road in the US, but it’s gotta be in the Top Three. The last weekend in July is always ‘Miatas at the Gap’ weekend, which we usually attend. Since we wouldn’t be able to spend the whole weekend this year, I at least went over on Friday afternoon to say “Hi” to a bunch of people I only see once each year at The Gap, but I had to leave at around 7:30 pm to go pick up Mrs. Guy at the airport in Knoxville.

Mrs. Guy had spent the week at a work conference at was just absolutely beat. I took her home, and she asked me to kindly let her sleep in the next morning. And I did let her sleep in. The problem is that I slept in as well. We didn’t get up until after 11:00 am.

We had a few errands to run on Saturday afternoon and then started our ‘Date Night’ with a matinee movie showing, followed by a leisurely dinner and then home to catch Alton Brown’s new show on Food Network. Here’s the problem, though. Neither of us could get to sleep. I think she fell asleep sometime around 1:30 am, but I was awake for a good while after. That made getting up this morning awfully hard. Mrs. Guy got up early to go work the Hunger Helper market at the church, but I barely got out of bed in time to get to Sunday School.

We left church and went for lunch, and when we left we were both still very weary. If I’d left it at that, I likely could have spent the afternoon on the couch. But I knew I just needed to jump-start myself or I’d never get anything done today. I called John B. to see if he wanted to ride. He expressed the same weariness, but agreed that a ride might be just the thing, so we arranged to meet in one hour at a gas station north of town for a ride he likes to do out there.

I think I’d been on that ride once before. It’s a beautiful ride, keeping mostly to lightly-trafficked roads. It goes in and out of woods, next to pasture-land, along the side of several creeks, et cetera. We kept it at a pretty easy pace, what I like to call a conversational pace (i.e., you never go so hard that it hinders conversation). That always makes it an easy way to pass the miles, and we ended up riding just under 30 miles today.

John suggested a Nutty-Buddy for a post-ride treat, so we sat at an outside table (actually, THE outside table) at the gas station and enjoyed our ice cream while watching the people coming in and out of the parking lot.

I got home at about 4:45 pm. It’s now 7:45 pm, and I’ve switched out loads of laundry, let the dogs out and fed them, eaten dinner with Mrs. Guy, painted in our Master Bath, and am about to complete a blog post. Next, I plan to go work on straightening out the garage until Mrs. Guy gets done working on her expense report, and then I hope to convince to go for a long walk with me and the dogs.

I enjoy an occasional Lazy Sunday as much as the next guy, but I think that the ride today was just the thing I needed to break out of a serious lag.

Date Night

Sun, 30 Jul 2006 03:38:52 GMT

No regular post tonight. Mrs. Guy decided that tonight would be 'Date Night', with dinner and a movie involved. We saw "Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest", and were entertained by it.

Many of you have asked, but I haven't heard any more about the cyclist hit the other night, though I have made inquiries about it. I take it as a good sign that there's nothing in the paper about it. Had he been badly injured, then somebody would know something. Still, I'm keeping my ears open.

So maybe a full post tomorrow...

Let's Get Physical(ed)

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:20:59 GMT

I went for another fine session of sado-masochism, er, Physical Therapy this morning. I got there at 9:30 am, and while they are usually very punctual, today they were running about fifteen minutes behind. I knew that was going to cause me problems since I had a 10:30 am appointment following, and PT usually runs just under an hour. Murphy's Law dictates, of course, that they will always run late when you need them to be on time. Murphy would not have been dissapointed.

So they put me on heat for 15 minutes on the timer. I laid there on the table reading a 'Landscape Photographer' magazine (they do have good reading material there) until the timer went off...at which point my therapist de jour was nowhere to be found. OK, that's alright, I know exactly what exercises I'm supposed to do. So I did. I also did them a little faster than normal, but I don't think I'll suffer any ill effects because of it.

I completed the exercises and figured that in the fifteen minutes remaining I'd have just enough time for them to ice me down. That's when the therapist decided to do some rang-of-motion stretching on my shoulder. (Sigh.)

Ten minutes later he put me on ice, and five minutes into it I got up and said "Hey, I gotta go. See you guys next Tuesday," and then beat a hasty retreat before any of them had any real time to react.

That gave me just enough time to get over to my regular doctor's office for my annual physical. Yes, it was a complete physical, but I don't want to talk about that. Ever. So don't ask.

I haven't actually seen Dr. A. in forever it seems. I think the last time I saw him was a few years ago when I went in with Mrs. Guy to see about some bronchitis she was having. Most of the time I end up seeing a PA. They've gotten very busy over the years.

At one point we discussed how long I've been his patient. I had to remind him that I used to have Patient Number 14 before they went to a new numbering system several years back. I think I dropped in there in the first couple of weeks they were open. It was planned that way, though. He and another doctor hung out their shingle only months after I moved to this area, and that other doctor (let's call him "Pooh") is someone I grew up with.

"Pooh" is my sister's age. His sister is my age. Our older brothers are almost the same age. Their family and ours lived right next to each other at one point, and both families moved into the same neighborhood very close to each other when I was two years old. "Pooh" was his nickname way back in the day. I have to be careful about telling that to his staff, though, cause he knows embarrasing stories about me, too. Ahem...not that there are any, of course.

So anyway we decided back when I first went to their office that I should be Dr. A's patient for a variety of reasons, but I think mostly because Dr. A didn't know as many people in the area and had fewer patients then. It's worked out well, as Dr. A is now a friend as well (though I rarely see him these days).

So anyway, he pronounced me the fittest overweight patient that he has, which we both credit to cycling. Cycling, when I actually get to do it (a reference to the last three months of enforced sloth) is very effective at helping me lose weight, and now that I'm back at it, maybe I can get back under 230 pounds by early September (like I was back in April).

Now I'm headed to Deal's Gap for the annual Miatas At The Gap weekend (hence the early post today). I won't be staying overnight though, as I have to pick up Mrs. Guy at the airport at 9:15 pm or so. I figure she'll want to have some 'together time' to decompress, so I'll just go ahead and throw this out there now.

Don't forget that there are trivia questions out there for this week as of yesterday!

Trivia Answers from 7/20:

1. What religious denomination was Tour de France phenom Floyd Landis brought up in? Floyd was a Mennonite. Let me just say right here that I can't fathom that Floyd would possibly have purposefully used performance-enhancing drugs.

2. What does 'BART' stand for to San Franciscans? Having nothing to do with 'The Simpsons', BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit. At least that's the official acronym. I've heard a few others, and most aren't repeatable here.

3. Who bought McDonalds from the McDonald brothers and made it the most successful franchise restaurant? Ray Kroc was a restaurant-equipment salesman who apparently knew a good thing when he saw it. He took the little hamburger stand in San Bernadino, California and turned into a worldwide phenomenon.

4. The Hudson Bay is bounded by what large peninsula on it's east side? This is something I know because of my love of dogs. It's the Labrador Peninsula.

5. Asa Candler (1851-1929) is seen as being responsible for the overwhelming success of what famous product? Asa bought the formula for Coca-Cola from its inventor, John Pemberton, way back in 1887 and aggresively marketed it, overseeing it's growth to the leader in soft-drink sales. Asa Candler also served as the Mayor of Atlanta for a time, but is much more well known due to his association with 'The Real Thing'.

Extra Credit Science Question: 'PV=nRT' is also know as __________. The Ideal Gas Law. I just have to throw a science question in once in a while. But a couple of answers to this one stand out.

From CafLib: "Pervert? The formula kinda looks like it spells "pervert" if you squint at it..."

From Honor: "Package Vacations = no Restful Travel"

Thanks for the laughs, ladies.

Very Close to Home

Fri, 28 Jul 2006 03:31:30 GMT

I just got home a few minutes ago, and I've got a lot going on in my head right now. I just stopped by the local convenience store to get a quart of milk. While I was pulling in, I noticed that a Sheriff's cruiser pulling in such that he was blocking a certain pickup truck from leaving. As I was going in, the Deputy was walking up to talk to the guy sitting in the truck. Needless to say, everyone else around was watching this with great interest. Me? I was walking back to the cooler to get my milk. The counter was clear when I got to it because everyone else was busy looking out the window at the proceedings. I should add that the clerks were also absorbed with it as well.

Clerk 1: Drunk as a skunk. No way should he be driving.

Clerk 2: I'm just glad the cop arrived so quick.

Big Guy: Oh? Are you the ones who called them?

C2: Oh, yeah. That guy got here about fifteen minutes ago. You should see the mess he made back there <gestures toward back wall of the store>

C1: He was so bad off he couldn't even pour a cup of coffee. Spilled it all over the place.

C2: No way should he be driving.

BG: I agree. Looks like he won't be doing any for a while now. <points out front window where the Deputy was pulling his handcuffs from his belt>

C1: Well, that's a relief.

BG: That it is. Goodnight.

I took my milk and walked out the front door. Just then, another car pulled up and the driver called out to the Deputy "Hey, there's a guy a few hundred yards up the road by the guardrail. Says he got hit on his bike by someone. He needs some help."

The deputy responded that he'd call it in and asked for the exact location. They said it was just a few hundred yards up the road annd that the guy was still up there. At this point I got to thinking that maybe it was time to put two and two together and see what the likely answer is. I also started thinking that it might take a while for other help to get to the guy, and that I am trained in first aid/first response, so I decided to head up there and see what I could do.

Well, I never got that far. As I was pulling up to the light at the exit from the store lot, an ambulance pulled away from the Subway shop next to the store and came flying around me with lights on and sirens wailing. I was relieved that I wasn't actually needed up there and that well qualified help with equipment was on the way.

I looked back toward the store to see the Deputy putting the pickup driver in the back seat of his cruiser. From the same angle I was looking from, I noticed that the very new-looking truck had a small dent and some scratching down the passenger side.

Now, I can't say right here and now that the guy I saw being cuffed is the same one that hit the guy just up the road, but looking at the evidence (time frame, dent, locations) I can easily imagine this guy being drunk, hitting someone with his vehicle, pulling into the first place he gets to for something to sober up with, et cetera, et cetera. I, too, have been the victim of a hit-and-run on that road (though I was in my car and relatively uninjured, and they did catch her down the road a little ways. She wasn't drunk, though. Just driving on a revoked license and not paying attention to the road.) Two and two most often equal something resembling a four.

So instead of heading up toward the scene, where I would have just been another rubbernecker in the way, I just drove the 3/4 mile on home while saying a quick prayer for the victim up the road. I may find out how it all pays out in the next few days. I ride these roads. I ride these roads a lot, though hardly ever after dark. Just something else to ponder.

And please, if you drive, don't drink. If you drink, don't drive. It's that simple.

Trivia Time

Please remember to follow the Rules and to send your answers to bgoab (at) mindspring (dot) com.

1. In "The Hunt for Red October", what was the class of Soviet submarine skippered by the guy who was trying to sink Captain Raimius?

3. What was Bruce Banner bombarded with that ultimately caused him to transform into a green behemoth every time he got angry?

4. Norm Abram's show "New Yankee Workshop" is sponsored by which two major tool manufacturing companies (actually, I'll take either one)?

5. What is the anglicized spelling of the name that citizens of Greece use for their country (Hint: It isn't 'Greece')?

Photo Album: Urban Wanderings

Thu, 08 Jun 2006 17:38:36 GMT

Urban Wanderings

DSC_0222.JPG

DSC_0205.JPG

DSC_0211.JPG

DSC_0220.JPG

DSC_0155.JPG

DSC_0166.JPG

Garden Saint

Ultimate Bike Rack

DSC_0016.JPG

Overstepping Your 'Welcome'

More photos...

Photo Album: Lights, Camera, ...

Sun, 18 Sep 2005 19:25:07 GMT

Lights, Camera, ...

The Big Guy On One Of His Bikes

Two Big Guys (Hoss is Drafting/Sandbagging)

The Big Guy at Moab

Big Guy at Cherohala Challenge

Big Guy Cyclocrossing

Melton Hill Park Cyclocross Race

Photo Album: Tour de Georgia '04

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 19:10:27 GMT

Tour de Georgia '04

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Tahoe

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 19:08:03 GMT

Tahoe

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Phenomena

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 19:04:29 GMT

Phenomena

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Sterchi Lodge/Max Patch

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:59:35 GMT

Sterchi Lodge/Max Patch

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: LeConte

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:52:49 GMT

LeConte

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Hawaii

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:50:05 GMT

Hawaii

Untitled Photo

Pearl Harbor - Tears of Arizona

Untitled Photo

Dsc20

Photo Album: Great Smokies Flora

Fri, 03 Feb 2006 18:45:25 GMT

Great Smokies Flora

DSC_00011

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Scotland

Wed, 25 Jan 2006 20:53:40 GMT

Scotland

Arch Detail

Carrbridge 1

Celtic Cross 2

Duffus 1

Elgin Cath2

Loch Ness

Feeding the Flock

Red Box

Swilkum Birn

Wee Coo

Photo Album: Leaves

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 21:52:20 GMT

Leaves

Untitled Photo

Photo Album: Ireland

Sun, 08 Jan 2006 18:50:35 GMT

Ireland

Untitled Photo

More photos...